A mobile communication network is divided into different service areas according to tracking area codes (Tracking Area Code, TAC). The network pages a mobile user equipment by sending a paging message in a tracking area (Tracking Area, TA). The TA is a basic unit of a paging area in a system. That is, a paging message is sent for paging per TA, and the paging message of the mobile user equipment is sent among all cells in the TA. A cell belongs to a TA, but the cells included in a TA may belong to different eNBs (eNode B, evolved NodeB).
In order to determine the location of the mobile user equipment, the coverage area of each network is divided into several TAs. The size of a TA (namely, the area covered by a TAC) is a key factor in the system. The division of TAs is rather important in network planning. In the process of dividing the TAs, the frequency of updating the TAs should be as low as practicable so long as the paging load is not too high. Frequent TA updates in the system may lead to a waste of network resources. The paging load decides the maximum scope of the TA, and accordingly, the location update load of the edge cell decides the minimum scope of the TA. The paging load depends on the maximum paging capacity of the eNB. If the TA is too wide, the paging channel will be overloaded. If the TA is too narrow, too many TA update messages will be generated when a UE (User Equipment) moves between TAs.
The process of paging a UE is: The network side of mobile communication system pages the UE according to the stored TA area where the UE is located currently. The TA area where the UE is located currently is referred to as a paging area.
In the present TA planning in a network planning and after the TA that covers the cell changes, the network planners have to update the configuration in relevant nodes of the network through manual modification, which involves plenty of human resources and increases the cost of network planning and updating.